There are two things I’d object to about this design. And of course this is meant as constructive criticism and I really appreciate the effort you’re putting forth in spite of the fact that I disagree with you.
First, I am squeamish about brains, and I assume some percentage of other people are as well. Even though your suggested picture is quite inoffensive, I wouldn’t take the risk of turning away visitors. It’s just unnecessary.
Second, there’s nothing about the headlines that pulls me in.
Curated community blog
Why would I want to read your blog? I don’t even know who you are.
A community discussion board
Too vague. I don’t even know what this community is about, what do I want with a board?
A source of edited rationality materials
...okay?
And a promoter of hundreds of meetups around the world.
Meet you? Do I even want you to know I exist?
Contrast this with the article linked on the discussion page not so long ago. It went something like
Six ways your irrationality is causing you to lose money
That is a great headline. It makes people curious, makes them want to find out if they’re making any of these mistakes or if it’s just other people. My money, that’s relevant to me.
The current front page is actually not so bad:
Want to know if your doctor’s diagnosis is correct? It helps to understand Bayes’ Theorem. Want to make a plan for achieving your goals? It helps to know the ways in which we don’t know our own desires. Want to make the world a better place? It helps to know about ‘scope insensitivity’, and that some charities are more efficient than others.
I would put this segment first though and jazz it up a bit. I would rewrite it a hundred times, pick a few rewrites that I think are the best, then I would cycle through them on the front page and see which ones cause new visitors to stay on the site longest/visit most pages.
On a tangential matter, that is why I hate the label “dark arts” that’s being used around here. Sure, if a sleazy used car salesman uses these strategies, that may be immoral. But we have a great “product” and a genuine desire to make ourselves and other people better and the world a better place. We should market ourselves better, because that’s the most effective way to reach new people
Real estate on the internet is paradoxically expensive, because attention spans are very short and every word has an opportunity cost. Every sentence needs to keep the reader interested enough to read the next sentence. We don’t need to be sleazy, and we don’t need to use “dark arts”. But we really, really, need to be persuasive.
Oh, by the way, PJ Eby is great at this! When I first saw one of his sites, www.whycantichange.com I thought, “wow, this guy really gets it.” It’s a great example of ethical persuasion and I’m really glad he bothered to learn it and use it because if he hadn’t, I may not have checked out his materials and made some of the very tangible progress I’ve made in my life.
...seriously, that url (whycantichange) is so brilliant I’m giddy.
For a contrary opinion: Whenever I come across a site anything like whycantichange, I immediately ditch it and glaze over. Those come across as sleazy cheap grabs for money, even if they aren’t actually asking for money.
I’m certainly not suggesting that the LW front page should be replaced by a landing page. That particular design does have some negative associations for me as well.
My point is that if your goal is to make the visitor stick around for a while and maybe even participate, then you need to have a front page that encourages him/her to do so. The design suggested by the OP, in my opinion, probably does not.
There are two things I’d object to about this design. And of course this is meant as constructive criticism and I really appreciate the effort you’re putting forth in spite of the fact that I disagree with you.
First, I am squeamish about brains, and I assume some percentage of other people are as well. Even though your suggested picture is quite inoffensive, I wouldn’t take the risk of turning away visitors. It’s just unnecessary.
Second, there’s nothing about the headlines that pulls me in.
Why would I want to read your blog? I don’t even know who you are.
Too vague. I don’t even know what this community is about, what do I want with a board?
...okay?
Meet you? Do I even want you to know I exist?
Contrast this with the article linked on the discussion page not so long ago. It went something like
That is a great headline. It makes people curious, makes them want to find out if they’re making any of these mistakes or if it’s just other people. My money, that’s relevant to me.
The current front page is actually not so bad:
I would put this segment first though and jazz it up a bit. I would rewrite it a hundred times, pick a few rewrites that I think are the best, then I would cycle through them on the front page and see which ones cause new visitors to stay on the site longest/visit most pages.
On a tangential matter, that is why I hate the label “dark arts” that’s being used around here. Sure, if a sleazy used car salesman uses these strategies, that may be immoral. But we have a great “product” and a genuine desire to make ourselves and other people better and the world a better place. We should market ourselves better, because that’s the most effective way to reach new people
Real estate on the internet is paradoxically expensive, because attention spans are very short and every word has an opportunity cost. Every sentence needs to keep the reader interested enough to read the next sentence. We don’t need to be sleazy, and we don’t need to use “dark arts”. But we really, really, need to be persuasive.
Oh, by the way, PJ Eby is great at this! When I first saw one of his sites, www.whycantichange.com I thought, “wow, this guy really gets it.” It’s a great example of ethical persuasion and I’m really glad he bothered to learn it and use it because if he hadn’t, I may not have checked out his materials and made some of the very tangible progress I’ve made in my life.
...seriously, that url (whycantichange) is so brilliant I’m giddy.
For a contrary opinion: Whenever I come across a site anything like whycantichange, I immediately ditch it and glaze over. Those come across as sleazy cheap grabs for money, even if they aren’t actually asking for money.
I’m certainly not suggesting that the LW front page should be replaced by a landing page. That particular design does have some negative associations for me as well.
My point is that if your goal is to make the visitor stick around for a while and maybe even participate, then you need to have a front page that encourages him/her to do so. The design suggested by the OP, in my opinion, probably does not.